Pottermore Publishing, Audible, Scholastic, and Bloomsbury are starting a worldwide campaign aimed at making the magic of Harry Potter available to more readers and listeners than ever before for free.
How to claim your free audiobooks
Harry Potter magic is coming to more readers and listeners than ever before
From 1st September onwards into October, the audiobook of the first Harry Potter book, with narration by Stephen Fry and Jim Dale, will be available free of charge for streaming on the official Harry Potter YouTube channel, Audible, Amazon Music and Spotify. This is the first instance when listeners outside of North America will be able to hear Jim Dale’s award-winning narration on YouTube.
The campaign, known as ‘The Magic Starts Here’, will involve the donation of more than 200,000 Harry Potter books and full-cast audiobooks around the world, exactly in time for the annual Back to Hogwarts festivities and the launch of the HBO Max series.
A paid subscription will not be necessary in order to access the recordings. However, the availability of the audiobooks may differ according to regional streaming rights and some platforms might not be accessible in every country. Fans are advised to check the availability on local platforms and any country-specific restrictions to make sure they can take part.
In the United States, Scholastic is donating 100,000 copies of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” to schools, including those in under-served communities. Pottermore and Audible will match this donation by distributing the full-cast audiobook edition to 100,000 teachers affiliated with Book Clubs across the nation. In the UK, Bloomsbury will donate print copies of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” to charities and organizations such as Read for Good, The National Literacy Trust, Give a Book, Sky, The Trussell Trust, and Book Aid International. Pottermore and Audible will also provide matching audiobook donations in the UK.
To increase access, Pottermore will temporarily remove the digital waitlists for all its eBooks and single-voice audiobooks in every language during September, so more library users can borrow Harry Potter stories.
If you want to borrow a Harry Potter eBook or audiobook from their library, they should go to their local library’s website or use a library reading app like Libby or BorrowBox. Once you’ve logged in with a valid library card, search for the Harry Potter title, check whether it is available, and follow the instructions to borrow it and start reading or listening immediately. This is a great way to keep the wizarding world open to everyone.